


i will wait for you

by galacticlions



Series: jaith [15]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst?, Comfort, During War, Fluff, Garrison days, M/M, Reunion, day after keith was missing, kiss from the bf, pre war
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-05-15 19:54:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19302709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galacticlions/pseuds/galacticlions
Summary: how james (kind of) coped with keith’s absence





	i will wait for you

When James filed a missing person report to the police station, they told him that four others were missing as well. That information made his stomach drop and a void in him began to grow. He became queasy and shaky. Surely it was a coincidence. There’s absolutely  _no_ way Keith and the other unfortunate people were somehow connected and targeted. 

He was also informed that a search party was already out and roaming the city and valleys, trying to locate the missing persons and trying to find clues to their whereabouts, but Keith and the others wouldn’t be declared missing until 24 hours.

“Hopefully he will be found.” James sighed softly, his lip quivering. The police officer gave him sympathetic nod. James exited the station and headed back to the Garrison.

James barely slept a wink that night. His bed was too big, his body too cold, and his mind too restless in order for a comfortable sleeping experience. A part of him hated himself. He regretted having that stupid argument with Keith, if only he had apologized maybe he wouldn’t have gone missing.

Maybe it was his fault that Keith was missing. Maybe he wasn’t missing, just hiding somewhere until his temper cooled down. He just had to wait until the police confirmed that he and the others were missing. Until then, James had a bit of hope.

The morning was dreadful. Iverson noticed that he was slacking, which he considered to be very out of character since James was always trying his hardest. His actions became sluggish, the bags under his eyes became heavier, and his mood was low, decreasing gradually as days went by. Iverson wrote him a slip to the counselor. 

When James entered the counselors office, he restrained himself from breaking down. The counselor asked him to sit, he did. 

“You’re usually bubbly. What’s wrong?” The woman asked, crossing her legs when she sat down on a chair across from James. 

James’ fidgeted with his fingers. He was silent for a while, trying to collect his thoughts and trying his hardest not to cry. Boys don’t cry, that’s what his dad said, not matter the circumstance, boys don’t cry.

The counselor licked her lips before speaking, “I want to help you, James. It’s fine if you don’t want to open up with me, since you barely know me, but please, let me help you.” It sounded to sincere that it made James’ chest ache.

The cadet almost felt suffocated by feeling different emotions at the same time. Anger, fear, sadness. 

The teen finally spoke after some time of silence.

”You know Keith?” He asked her. 

She nodded, “The black haired boy with a discipline case? Also the one that punched you? Dropout?”

James nodded silently, also not looking up from the carpeted floor.

”Is this about him?” She asked, almost cautiously. 

“We’re dating.” She didn’t flinch at that. James was relieved. “And he went missing the other day. Police haven’t confirmed it yet.”

Yet.

She frowned, “And you’re worried that he is gone?” 

Gone. Synonymous with dead, deceased, and all those negative words with negative connotations all related to a person who was no longer breathing and living. 

“Yeah.”

* * *

 The first tears fell when the police had arrived at the Garrison. He was in class when the teacher excused him outside the classroom. He didn’t cry when the police delivered the news. He cried once he reached the weak comfort of his dorm room. He was hysterical. His cheeks red and stained, his eyes bloodshot and puffy, his nose pink, and his throat aching from screaming. 

He managed to clean himself up before his roommate came back.

He went to sleep that night, exhausted by the crying, clutching a photograph of him and Keith as his chest ached. 

James started to lose hope after a year. He was almost certain that he had officially lost Keith. A couple more years until he was fully gone.

The void within him grew and it was slowly consuming him. It was merciless. 

Even through all this despair, James pursued his studies with all his might, exceeding and pushing forward because he knew that’s what Keith would’ve wanted for him. 

It paid off. He became head of the MFE pilots. He knew Keith would’ve been proud. 

James didn’t move on. He didn’t disregard the overwhelming love he still had for Keith. James decided that he would wait for him. He knew that Keith was still alive, that boy probably to stubborn to enter death’s door. 

At night, James would sit at his window and look at the beautiful night sky he and Keith would stare at each night, naming constellations or making new ones just for them. He would smile as he reminisced on those memories and he knew that they would make more once Keith came back. 

 

Word had gotten out that the paladins of Voltron were on their way into Earth’s solar system and soon into Earth itself. But during that time, aliens known as the Galra, have invaded Earth. James and his pilots’ lives were  on the line. They were fighting aliens, protecting their small corner of Earth. 

Soon, they were tracking down the paladins that had crash landed with the enemy’s ship in the valley near Platt city, their identities still unknown since that information was never revealed to them. 

There were six figures with suits that were colored, they were a mysterious rainbow. 

James had shot the enemy and the paladin in red turned around. A heavy breath of relief escaped his mouth audibly along with a few tears that unwillingly escaped his eyes. 

 

They were slow dancing in James’ room, continuing on with one of Helen Forrest’s songs. The sunlight beamed down at them from his circular window. The glimmer of hope James stored vanished once Keith was safely in his arms. Keith came back older, a long scar on his cheek that weirdly fitted him, and with his wolf and Galran mom. 

James nuzzled the side of his head and nosed at his ear with his eyes shut. He was rubbing Keith’s hip with his thumb, trying to memorize his form again. 

James kissed the side of his head as he let his tears escape. His heart ached, but this time, with overwhelming happiness that replaced the long sadness. Keith pulled back from their position and cupped James’ cheeks, looking up at him with the softest smile James’ had ever seen from him.

Keith brought their foreheads together as the paladin gently caressed his cheeks with his gloved thumb. James rubbed the tip of his nose against Keith’s. 

Keith leaned his head to the side, James reciprocated, and just like that, their lips touched. James had missed the warmth that Keith’s lips always held. He missed the feel of his lips against his. 

James broke down again. He sobbed, causing his lips to break apart from Keith’s. Keith wiped his tears away and kissed him again. 

“I love you.” James cried.

”I know.”

Of course Keith would make a stupid Star Wars reference during a gushy moment. James let out a wet laugh. Yeah, he definitely missed him a lot.

**Author's Note:**

> i was listening to frank sinatra and the song ‘i will wait for you’ gave me this idea :)
> 
> also a good jaith song is ‘the way you look tonight’ performed by tony bennett
> 
> the bedroom scene takes place after ‘it’s been a long long time’ and i imagine them dancing to ‘dancing on the ceiling’ by helen forrest


End file.
